


The Angelic Way

by ElenaCee



Series: Devil's Trap [16]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, God has a Plan, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12882750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElenaCee/pseuds/ElenaCee
Summary: It's a family dinner, albeit an unconventional one.





	The Angelic Way

**Author's Note:**

> Due to popular demand, here's some concentrated, unapologetic domestic fluff. There's enough angst in the show right now, so I figured I'd write some pure feel-good after all the whump in the last part. I hope you guys like it.
> 
> As always, thanks so much for all your kudos, comments, and bookmarks on the preceding parts of this series. They mean a lot. <3

 

“Surely, it’ll all end in a bloodbath,” Lucifer stated.

His words were fierce, but his voice was soft. He was sitting on his bed, cross legged, wings out, hunched over to present his bare back to Chloe, who was running her fingers through his feathers. Their softly glowing white formed a tantalizing contrast to the dark red of his skin.

He sighed in pleasure. “Earth may not survive,” he added dreamily.

She ran one hand up his neck and over his currently bare head, eliciting another blissful sigh. “I thought they were angels,” she said, leaning forward and kissing his nape. “Causing Earth’s destruction doesn’t sound very angelic.”

“That’s just it,” he replied, pulling up his left wing to flap it briefly, irritably, reminding Chloe irresistibly of a cat shaking a wet paw, before settling it again.

She spotted what was bothering him; a couple of coverts had come out of alignment and a down was sticking up between them. Gently, she reached out and caught his wing to smooth the soft, fluffy things back in order.

He hummed his appreciation. “Angels are, first and foremost, Father’s soldiers, Chloe. They’re not the cute cherubs humans nowadays depict them as. They -  _ we _ \- are defenders, occasionally aggressors, created for war. Fighting and seeking reasons to fight is in our natures.”

She had noticed him correcting himself, glad to see that he was beginning to consider himself as an angel once more. It was hard not to, she supposed, in view of his magnificent wings, even if the rest of him was currently in his Devil form. “It’s just a dinner, Lucifer,” she said, returning to petting his back and the roots of his wings. “Surely everyone can behave themselves for a few hours.”

“If I’m right,” he replied, arching his back into her caresses, “and the angel you saw the other day really is bloody Michael, and if he has the audacity to accept your invitation and show his mug here, then I can’t even guarantee my  _ own _ good behavior.” He interrupted himself with a deep groan as she buried her hands in his feathers to curl around the coverts and pull her fingers down the shafts. “Just one wrong word, and I swear I’ll toss him off the balcony on his ear.” His diction was losing its sharpness with his increasing drowsiness.

She couldn’t help but smile. The Prince of Darkness was certainly capable of being a drama queen more often than not, but right now, all he was was adorable. “Couldn’t you just call a Truce of God for the duration?”

He snorted, then sighed as Chloe found the spot between his shoulder blades that made him arch his back and stretch his wings out to both sides. For a bit, he didn’t say anything, holding the stretch, his fully extended wings quivering softly, his breathing shallow, as she continued to pet his hot skin there.

It was a great trick, she had found, to keep him from getting upset or angry whenever she needed to discuss something serious with him - pet his wings, stroke his face, preferably both at the same time, and now and then trigger this reflex. It seemed to keep him grounded, maybe reassured him that there were more pleasant things in his life now than whatever they were talking about.

Without resorting to this, she doubted he would ever have agreed to this whole dinner thing. Now, though, he was even discussing the presence of his oh-so-despised twin brother in his home without flying off the handle.

_ Maybe I should just walk in circles around the dinner table and keep petting them all in turn to soothe them and make them behave. _

The thought made her smile, but then, she realized that she might be onto something. Sitting around a table to eat, having that physical barrier between them, was such a human thing. Maybe the Celestials would be less belligerent with a more - for lack of a better word - heavenly arrangement. Whatever that might be.

She removed her hands from Lucifer’s back in favor of hugging him from behind, his feathers providing a warm, fluffy cushion. “Is eating together a thing for Celestials?” she asked by way of gathering intel.

Her hands were grabbed by warm Devil hands and pressed against warm Devil lips. He didn’t respond immediately. “Like it is for you humans?” he finally asked in response. She could feel his lips move against her skin.

“Hmhm.” She found that needed to see his eyes at that point, so she scooted to one side and pulled him backwards, ducking underneath his wing as she did so.

He allowed himself to be pulled and pushed until they were snuggled together, half sitting and half lying against the headrest of his bed, his wings mantled around them. “Not quite like that, no. Celestials don’t do the whole ‘dinner appointment’ business talks over food that you do.” He trailed off in a soft sigh as she put her hand on the side of his face.

“So, no family dinners,” she concluded.

He smiled sadly. “I said no business dinners. Sharing a meal is intimate, for us. A family thing. We used to eat together, but that hasn’t happened for eons. For me, at least. Of course, I don’t know what the rest of the gang has been up to since I… left the nest.”

She stroked his burned-looking cheek with her thumb, well aware that that way lay a slew of resentments that she didn’t want to drag up now. “What were they like?” she asked instead. “The shared meals, I mean. Did you sit around a table, on chairs, like we do?”

He looked at her with his glowing-embers eyes. “There were no chairs,” he said softly, clearly recounting a precious memory. Chloe realized that he had never recounted details of his time in the Silver City before. “No tables, either. We would sit on the floor, or on cushions.” His gaze became unfocused as he remembered. “We were always in motion; there was always someone getting up to get more food or just to sit down somewhere else. We would never sit still for long. The food was on platters or on trays, constantly passed around. The drinks, too, would pass from hand to hand in pitchers.” He smiled another sad smile. “It was noisy. Everyone would be talking at once, or yelling for a tray or a pitcher, often with their mouth full. There would be lots of laughter and singing. The occasional row, too, of course. It was… boisterous. Much less formal than what you humans do. And it would go on for hours, days even, until we would fall asleep where we sat.”

Smiling, Chloe tried to imagine it. Not for the first time, she privately thought that Celestials, for all their power and grace, often seemed to behave like children more than anything.

Trixie would love something like this. Come to think of it, so might Chloe’s mother, if she only had a comfy cushion to sit on. And Dan…. Dan would just have to grin and bear it.

She stroked Lucifer’s cheek, watching his eyes flutter closed. He had sounded so wistful. He would probably never admit it, but she was sure, just from this barely-a-story, that he actually missed his life in Heaven. Maybe she could do something to make up for it. And maybe this also happened to be the answer to the potential hostility problem.

She leaned forward to capture his banked hellfire gaze. “Do you think it’s at all possible that we could do something like that for our dinner, here?”

 

* * *

 

_ Lucifer Morningstar _

How about dinner at my place?

_ Sachiel _   
You don’t need to cheer   
me up again, Brother.

I know. Saturday next.   
Be there, or be sorry   
you missed it.

_ Sachiel _   
Actually, why not?

Lovely.

 

* * *

 

“I’m not babysitting a stinkin’ Nephilim,” Mazikeen growled.

Lucifer grinned. She was always so refreshingly honest. Oh, how he loved her. “It’s nothing like babysitting,” he clarified. “You’re free to do whatever you want to him. Well. Provided you don’t kill him.” Earth and being among humans had taken its toll upon all of them, so he felt reasonably secure in the assumption that even his head demon wouldn’t overdo it.

Hell’s most feared torturer perked up at that. “For how long?”

Lucifer thought briefly. Back in the Silver City, their carousals had never lasted less than three days. He doubted, though, that the humans would be up for that. “Twenty-four hours,” he compromised. That would give them plenty of time to take care of the inevitable debris.

“Okay, but why shouldn’t I kill him?” she promptly proved him wrong. “He tried to kill you.”

“True, but….” Inspiration struck. “The Detective won’t like it, and her spawn might not, either.”

She scowled. “Fine. But I get paid by the hour.”

_ Victory. _ “Deal. Just send me your bill.”

 

* * *

 

“I still think this is too much food,” Chloe said, putting the last tray down on the cloth covering the closed piano lid. “I mean, look at all this. This would feed a small army.”

Lucifer turned to look at the platters and trays and baskets and bowls on the piano and the bar, putting his head to one side. “It’ll be fine. It’s a feast. Feasts shouldn’t be cut short because the guests have run out of food.”

She walked up to the Devil to put her arms around him. “And gluttony is a sin,” she said teasingly, her belly full of warm fondness for him. “So, naturally, you approve.”

He smiled brilliantly. “Exactly.” He bent down to lean his forehead against hers as his arms went around her in return. “Also, it’ll be fun to work off all these calories later. Win-win.”

“Hmm.” Always conscious of the billions of years he had spent without basic human touch, she reached up to stroke the back of his neck and the side of his face. It was only a brief caress, but every little bit helped. Besides, they still hadn’t heard from his twin brother, so an appearance by him sometime today wasn’t off the table, and in that case, Lucifer would need all the mental fortification he could get.

Lucifer readily nuzzled her hand, and they would probably have ended up on the couch for some serious cuddling, if at that moment, Trixie hadn’t come up the stairs holding a bowl full of fresh cookies.

At the same time, there was the by now familiar sound of a winged being landing on the balcony.

Lucifer turned to look. “Oh, it’s Sachiel.”

“He’s early.” Chloe peered at her watch. Not even four yet.

“I didn’t specify a time. It’s relative, anyway. Sach! Welcome to my home,” he added, turning to his brother.

“Thank you, Luci.” Said brother walked in, holding a modern keep-fresh box that was matched by his equally modern clothing. It if weren’t for his wings that he had shrugged away before walking through the sliding doors, Chloe would never have suspected him of being anything other than another normal human.

He came to a halt, looking at all the food and at the cleared space with its scattered cushions. “Are you expecting the entire family?”

Lucifer took the box from him. “Not quite.” He paused, considering. “Well, we don’t know who exactly is coming. Chloe’s mother, her ex-husband, and Amenadiel are definitives. They at least gave us their R.S.V.P.”

“Amenadiel?” Sachiel’s expression took on something akin to apprehension. “Uh….”

He didn’t finish that thought, because Trixie chose that moment to walk up to him. “Hi, Sachiel,” she said carefully, “it’s good to see you again.”

Chloe remembered that, the last time Sachiel had been here, the penthouse had been a battlefield, complete with blood and fighting and smashed things.

Sachiel seemed to remember it, too, because he threw Chloe a searching glance before turning to her daughter. “Hello, Trixie,” he said. “Likewise.”

Trixie, however, seemed unaffected by any lingering memories. She gave him a big smile. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“Oh.” He held the box out to her. “I made muffins. Lucifer failed to mention that there’ll be more guests, though -” this was accompanied by a searing glance in the Devil’s direction - “so I’m afraid there won’t be enough for everyone.”

Lucifer shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

“You should have told me, but you didn’t because you knew I wouldn’t have come had I known.” He looked at the open sliding doors to the balcony to indicate that leaving was still an option.

“Please, stay,” Trixie interjected. “It’s a family dinner, and you’re family. We want you here.”

Sachiel looked down at the little girl, and Chloe could see his features soften from all the way across the room. She smiled. Trust her intuitive monkey to find the right words to make an exiled angel feel welcome.

“Yes, stay,” Lucifer added. “Or, if you do leave, at least don’t do it on Amenadiel’s account. He’s a big ol’ softie. All bark and no bite.”

“That’s not how I remember him,” Sachiel sighed. “And how come  _ you’re _ so cosy with him all of a sudden? Isn’t he supposed to drag you back to Hell?” As he talked, he followed to where Lucifer had let himself sink down on the floor.

“That was last year.” Lucifer patted the space next to him in invitation. “We’ve had a few rows over it, true, but he’s come ‘round to my point of view.”

Sachiel sat down and surrendered his box when Lucifer grabbed it. “Which is?”

The Devil threw Chloe a tender look. “At long last, I’ve found a place where I belong. This is my home now.” He opened the box and took out a muffin. “I’m never going back down. Well. At least not to rule over the place.”

_ No, _ Chloe thought,  _ just to get the odd accoutrement from down there. _ She felt herself blush and turned away to grab a platter at random.

“So, he, too, has rebelled.” Sachiel held the box out to Trixie who had joined them.

“I wouldn’t call it rebelling,” Lucifer said through his mouthful of muffin. “More like making up his own mind.”

“You wouldn’t even call what  _ you  _ did ‘rebelling’, Luci,” Sachiel pointed out, smiling up at Chloe as she reached them with her platter. “Father may see it differently.”

Chloe, meanwhile, had realized that the two Archangels had decided to start with dinner. Clearly, waiting for all the guests to arrive, let alone waiting until everyone was seated and had food on their plate before starting to eat, was a human convention, and since this whole thing was all about Celestial customs, she readily ignored her upbringing and joined in.

They were finishing off the last muffin and had started making inroads into the platter Chloe had brought when a flapping sound heralded the next guest.

Amenadiel, dressed informally as always, tucked his wings away, took one look at the huddle on the floor, and joined them after a brief detour to Lucifer’s piano to grab a decanter and another tray with the ease of someone who was intimately familiar with this kind of thing.

“Sachiel,” he said, “good to see you. I hope you’ve got everything in hand?” His voice sounded stern, but not unfriendly.

Nevertheless, Sachiel cringed.

“Maze is guarding his spawn,” Lucifer put in helpfully, tilting his head back to look up at Amenadiel. “And do stop looming, Brother.”

Amenadiel sat, passing the plate he’d brought after taking a meatball off it, and started munching on it.

Sachiel watched him warily. When nothing more in the way of reproach was forthcoming, he began to relax.

Which was when Amenadiel reached over, grabbed the collar of his sweatshirt, and pulled him close. “I hope you learned your lesson, Brother,” he hissed.

Chloe threw a look at Lucifer, who watched, grinning, so she decided to take her cue from him and not interfere.

“Oh, I learned it,” Sachiel said, meekly hanging in his oldest brother’s grip and looking at him with widened eyes.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do with your spawn, then?” Amenadiel demanded, not letting go.

“Not yet,” Sachiel said even as Chloe changed her mind about not interfering.

“Maybe this isn’t a good time to discuss this,” she said with a significant look at Trixie, who was watching the proceedings intently.

Amenadiel relented immediately. “You’re right.” He let go of Sachiel’s shirt and began smoothing its front. “Sorry, Brother. Here.” With that, he offered him the decanter.

Sachiel took it and drank straight from it without even checking its contents.

“My, my,” Lucifer said, looking from one to the other, “you  _ have  _ changed, haven’t you. Last time we did something like this, we were well into our second brawl at this point.”

“Yes, but the last time you were with us at one of these things was literally billions of years ago,” Amenadiel pointed out, taking back the decanter. “We were ridiculously young back then.”

Sachiel nodded, helping himself to a meatball. “We did have a few dozen… hundred thousand feasts after you, uh, left. Things were bound to get into a groove at some point.”

“I see.” The Devil got up and wandered over to the bar to get another tray of food and a bread basket. “Well, I approve,” he said over his shoulder, voice raised so his guests could hear him. “I like my penthouse intact. There’s not enough room in here for a full-on family brawl, anyway. It’s barely big enough for me and Amenadiel going at it.”

The dark-skinned angel laughed at that, and Chloe surprised herself by thinking that he had a very nice smile, and that she’d love to see it more often.

The elevator dinged open to disgorge Dan and Chloe’s mother just as Lucifer was passing it, food in both hands.

“Daniel! Penelope!” Lucifer said exuberantly. “Welcome. Here, have some food.” He held the tray in front of them.

Chloe’s mom helped herself, looking bemused.

“We’re over there.” With that, he turned to re-join the huddle on the floor.

“Well, this is unexpected,” Mom commented as Chloe got up to greet her. “But why not? Reminds me of my younger days.” She put the bit of grilled cheese she had grabbed in her mouth and chewed, smiling.

Chloe took the covered dish they had brought from Dan. “We thought we’d try something else. Sitting on the floor is much healthier, anyway.”

“And much more fun!” Mom agreed, beginning to make her way towards the floor party, already a happy convert from the looks of it.

“Grandma!” Trixie shouted from where she was sitting next to Sachiel. “We’re doing dinner the angelic way. It’s awesome.” She patted the cushion next to her. “I reserved this for you!”

“The angelic way, huh?” Dan sounded supremely skeptical.

Chloe nudged him. “Come on, try it.”

“I’m only here for Trix, anyway,” Dan groused, but the longing look he directed at the angels laughing together as they greeted her mother belied his tone.

“Of course,” Chloe said, allowing him his pride. She’d had a lot of practice with the original sinner.

Putting the dessert Dan and Mom had brought onto a plate to join the other dishes on the bar, she watched Dan casually walk over to the angelic huddle where Mom was just draping herself over the cushion Trixie had chosen for her. Sachiel, meanwhile, was getting up.

“Bring another decanter, and some juice for the child,” Lucifer called after him.

“I can get my own,” Trixie replied, also getting up. “Hi, Daddy,” she added, passing Dan with a big smile on her face.

Looking no less bemused and a little resigned, Dan found a cushion to plant himself down on. Chloe followed him - her tray was eagerly grabbed by Amenadiel, who clearly had discovered his appetite - and sat down on the floor, next to Mom’s discarded shoes.

Shrugging, she kicked hers off as well.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Amenadiel,” Mom began. “That’s  _ such _ a beautiful name, by the way…. “ She trailed off, looking for words.

Amenadiel regarded her patiently, chewing on a fishstick.

“Chloe really  _ is _ a miracle, yeah?” Mom finally found her question.

Amenadiel nodded, mouth full, while Lucifer groaned.

“Sorry, Penelope,” the Devil added as Mom gave him one of her looks, “this is a well-trodden topic for us. But, yes. Chloe’s existence is literally miraculous. You can thank this oaf -” he nodded at Amenadiel -”and our Father, who apparently gave the order.”

“Really!” Mom looked the dark-skinned angel up and down. “We only had that one talk….”

Amenadiel nodded with a, for him, cheeky smile. “That’s all it took.”

Chloe scuttled over next to her mother. “You were right when you called me that back when I was little, you know.”

“Yes,” Mom said, giving one of her dramatic head tosses, “of course I was. But how? And why?”

Lucifer looked at Chloe, smiling his rare gentle smile. “Dad moves in mysterious ways, and for some reason, He decided that Chloe’s existence was essential to His plan. Whatever that is. Truthfully, I don’t care anymore.” His smile slipped into Devil grin territory. “I quite like reaping the benefits, though.”

Chloe smiled, because sometimes she couldn’t help herself. Besides, she quite liked reaping the benefits herself.

“What my brother is trying to say, Penelope,” Amenadiel added, “is that your daughter was created for him.”

“We don’t know that.” Lucifer grabbed one of the decanters and took a swig before passing it on to Chloe’s mom. “That seems to be the consensus, but we don’t bloody  _ know, _ for lack of parental confirmation.”

Sachiel, who had listened in silence, chose that moment to butt in. “Oh, I don’t know. Causing the existence of a human, at that precise moment in time, to live in this precise human city - considering that Father would have known that this would be the time when you decided to abdicate your throne in Hell, and where you would go then - seems a bit too much of a coincidence not to be deliberate. “

Amenadiel nodded. “Exactly.”

Mom shook her head wonderingly. “Amazing. A match made in Heaven. Literally. The Devil and my little pumpkin.” She elbowed Lucifer gently, who merely smiled.

“I always knew that Mom and Lucifer were made for each other,” Trixie piped up earnestly.

Chloe was glad for the distraction, because watching her mother flirt with Lucifer was just too weird.

“Really,” Dan commented sotto voce, sounding amused to Chloe’s experienced ears.

Trixie nodded. “She started being different from the moment they met.”

“I did not,” Chloe protested, smiling.

“You so did.” Trixie crawled on hands and knees to find a new place next to Amenadiel and a full tray of food.

“Come to think of it, so did Luci.” Amenadiel easily fended off the mock punch Lucifer threw at him. “Facts, Brother.” He reached for the decanter, only to find it empty. He got up, empty decanter in hand, and ambled over to the bar.

“Well,” Chloe’s mom said, “if that’s the case, a toast to the Divine Being who made all this possible.” She raised a full decanter to take a swig and pass it on.

Sachiel and Chloe followed suit while Lucifer groaned.

Chloe elbowed him. “He did make it possible. Credit where credit’s due, right?”

He groaned again, but she could tell that he just did it for the hell of it, so she smacked his shoulder, gently.

Someone probably would have made a remark about them getting a room already if it weren’t for a figure appearing just inside the room at this point, silhouetted against the fading light outside.

For a split second, Chloe was convinced that this was actually God, summoned somehow by their toast, and her mind stalled with awe. But then, mentally replaying the appearance, she realized that there had been a suggestion of wings vanishing behind the figure, like she had seen with Lucifer dozens of times before. An angel, then.

There was a brief silence, broken by Lucifer groaning, this time with genuine annoyance. The Devil rose to his feet and walked towards the balcony to confront the newcomer, who moved into the light of the room at the same time.

Now that she could see him better, Chloe, who had gotten up as well, found that the resemblance between them was striking. They clearly were twins. The only differences between them, as far as she could tell at first glance, was their hair color, the fact that the newcomer hadn’t bothered to tame his blond curls the way Lucifer did, and that he was clean-shaven. Apart from that, the two angels looked identical, down to their tall, slender physiques, patrician noses, chin clefts, and dark eyes.

They stood silently facing each other for a bit. Staring at the back of Lucifer’s head, Chloe wondered what color his eyes might be right now, whether she should go to him to calm him before things got smashed, and indeed whether she should interfere at all.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Amenadiel slowly approaching from the bar, probably thinking the same things.

“What do you want, Brother?” Lucifer finally broke the silence.

Michael - because of course it had to be Michael - raised both hands in a pacifying gesture. “I heard there was a family feast taking place here.” He looked over to the assembled guests, his dark gaze coming to rest on Chloe. “I was curious.” Even his voice was similar in timbre; but it did lack Lucifer’s British accent. His eyes darted back to his twin brother. “Am I welcome, Lucifer?”

Another prolonged silence followed. Amenadiel came to a halt, crossing his arms. Everyone was staring at the Devil.

“I really don’t know why I should let a backstabbing traitor join us and ruin the mood,” Lucifer finally grumbled.

Michael sighed, the sound very familiar to Chloe. “That was ages ago,” he said softly. “Billions of years, I expect, in Hell. Holding a grudge for this long is excessive, even for you.”

Lucifer scoffed, but didn’t say anything.

“Luce….” Chloe said softly, sensing a lessening of resistance.

He acknowledged her with a slight inclination of his head without looking away from his brother. Then, with an explosive sigh, he said, “Oh by all means, Mike, welcome to my home.” He raised a finger. “But this does in no way imply that I’m no longer mad at you, mind.”

Michael nodded earnestly. “So noted. Thank you, Luci.” He moved towards his brother, who took a step to the side to let him pass with an inviting gesture. “You really have changed, have you.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucifer muttered. “Like I said, this doesn’t mean all’s forgiven.”

Chloe, who had kept staring at the back of Lucifer’s head, only noticed that Trixie had gotten up to join them when her daughter was walking past her.

She came to a halt in front of Michael and stood, looking him up and down. “What’s your name?”

The angel tilted his head to one side in a way that was intimately familiar to Chloe. “Michael.”

She gasped. “Like the Archangel?”

“Yes,” Michael said, regarding her seriously, like an equal. “And you are...?”

“I’m Beatrice Decker, and this is my mom.” She gestured towards Chloe.

Behind them, conversation was picking up again as Michael transferred his earnest gaze from Trixie to Chloe. “I know her. She’s the reason for my brother’s change. We’ve met. And Father has mentioned her quite a bit.”

That made Trixie smile radiantly. “Really? What did He say?”

“Only good things,” the angel said with a smile before turning to Chloe. “I assume you don’t remember me, Chloe.”

She stared at his face, unable to get past how similar he was to Lucifer, and yet how different. The missing British accent was one thing. Also, he looked older somehow, even though they should be the exact same age, being twins. “Oh, I remember,” she said. “You were in our bedroom. I would have shot you if I’d had my gun.”

That made him smile. “Yes, but that’s not what I mean. We first met in front of the Gates.” He tilted his head to the other side as if waiting for her memory to come back.

It didn’t, but his words made Lucifer gasp.  _ “What?” _

Turning to him, she found an expression of horror on his face. Instinctively, she moved closer to him.

“No need to be upset, Brother,” Michael said placatingly, but Lucifer clearly didn’t listen.

“Then it’s true,” he said, voice weak, blinking at her. “You were dead.” He blinked again. “You were  _ dead. _ ”

“Lucifer,” she hissed with a sidelong glance at Trixie, who was still following every word of this conversation. “Whatever happened, I’m fine now, okay?”

“So dramatic, my little brother,” Michael said from behind her. “Always has been. Luci, you should have realized by now that she’s one of Father’s most beloved creatures. So stop acting like you think He would ever allow her to return to Heaven before her time.” Chloe had turned to him in time to see him give a funny smile. “Whenever that may be.”

“Because she’s a miracle,” Trixie chose that moment to interject. “And the Devil’s Consort. Right?”

“Exactly.” Again, Michael smiled, but his smile lacked Lucifer’s devilish glee. It seemed more… mature, somehow. “She’s special, child. And so are you.”

That made Trixie grin. She stepped forward and took the angel’s hand. “Come on, come sit next to me, Michael.”

He allowed himself to be dragged along, still smiling.

Chloe watched them go, hoping that her daughter would never lose this fearless ability to charm angels and devils and demons alike.

 

* * *

 

“What’s it like to fly?” Mom wanted to know, hours later.

She was draped over her current cushion next to Amenadiel, looking at him earnestly, half-empty decanter in one hand and a cocktail cherry in the other, clearly feeling no pain. She didn’t even react when Michael took the decanter off her.

“Depends where,” Amenadiel said.

Lucifer nodded, licking his fingers clean of guacamole. “It’s really painful to fly down in Hell. You keep colliding with things.” He grabbed the decanter off Michael and took a swig. “Walls, columns, doors. I hardly ever used to fly there. No fun.”

“It’s fun in Heaven,” Sachiel put in. “Lots of space, and practically no effort. You can pretty much be stationary without doing anything.”

“How does that work?” Dan wanted to know. “No gravity up there?”

“No idea,” Michael confessed, passing the tray with the chicken wings after grabbing one. Chloe remembered the banter this dish had caused when Dan had brought it here. She really hoped it wouldn’t put Trixie off eating them for the rest of her life. “There’s gravity, same as here,” Michael went on. “Higher grace density, maybe.” He put a clean chicken bone onto an empty plate. “Amenadiel? You’re the scholar.”

Mom let her head fall back so she could look at him. “You’re a scholar? That is  _ so _ exciting.”

Lucifer grinned. “No, he’s really boring. Nose always in some book. Bo-ring.”

“Nothing wrong with studying, Luci,” Amenadiel said, refusing to be drawn.

“How good are you with science, Amenadiel?” Trixie asked, still awake and going strong, much to Chloe’s chagrin. “I could use a consultant.”

“Why don’t you ask your step-Devil?” Dan put in with an easy grin that made Chloe look at him in surprise.

She would have expected him to take this switch in roles harder than this, but apparently, she had underestimated her ex. Or maybe he was just mellow from all the alcohol.

Dan returned her surprised look with a half shrug. “It’s the way things are going, right?” he said, still not sounding bitter in the least. “She’ll always be my kid, but I can read the writing on the wall as well as the next guy.”

Trixie, meanwhile, gave an exaggerated groan. “Lucifer’s useless with science,” she proclaimed, much to Amenadiel’s amusement.

Lucifer didn’t even try to contest that. “I’m unbeatable in everything else,” he said, grinning. “If you’re still awake by then, you’ll be able to watch me grind my insufferable brother into the ground at karaoke later.”

“Oh, we’ll see about that.” Michael interjected. “Assuming that, by ‘insufferable brother’, you mean me. Clearly, you’re getting along fine with Sach and Amenadiel.” He paused. “What’s a ‘karaoke’?”

 

* * *

 

Yet another couple of hours later, Trixie was fast asleep, leaning against Chloe. Karaoke had come and gone. Dan was just returning from the bathroom, still a little green around the gills, while Amenadiel and Chloe’s mom were slow dancing to Lucifer tickling the ivories and singing Sinatra’s “Angel Eyes” (which made Chloe decide that an extra round of serious cuddling was in the cards for her Devil later).

Sachiel and Michael, last seen walking towards the balcony doors, still hadn’t returned. Chloe had spotted them ten minutes ago talking earnestly. Now, craning her neck, all she could see of them was a huddle of wings on the balcony floor. Michael’s, apparently, were white with dark flecks.

Clearly, someone was getting their cuddles early. Two someones, rather.

_ “Pardon me but I got to run,”  _ Lucifer crooned, pitch-perfect despite the row of empty decanters on the bar.  _ “The fact’s uncommonly clear….” _

“It’s late,” Dan said, a little indistinctly. “Maybe I should go.”

Chloe gave him a look. “I hope you’re not planning on driving right now, Dan.”

That gave him pause. “You’re right. I shouldn’t.”

_ “I gotta find who’s now the number one _ _  
_ _ And why my angel eyes ain’t here….” _

“You don’t need to go,” Chloe told Dan. “I’m sure Lucifer wouldn’t mind you crashing right here on his sofa.”

Dan fuzzily eyed said sofa. “Right.”

“Come on.” She hooked her hand through his arm and guided him over to one section of the sofa, upon which he folded in on himself with a sigh.

 

* * *

 

Still later, Chloe felt herself carried to Lucifer’s bed and covered with the duvet, even though she wasn’t tired, or drunk, dammit.

To her left, she heard voices, and the soft rustling of feathers.

“I’m happy for you, Luci.” That had to be Michael.

“Really.”

“Yes. Father sends His regards, by the way.”

“Please don’t.”

“I wouldn’t have come here if it hadn’t been His wish.”

“How very obedient of you, Mike. So, now I’m supposed to be grateful, is that it?”

There was a pause. “Yes,” Michael said, “yes, you should be grateful. Things are changing. They usually do, every two thousand Earth years or so, and it’s high time.”

“Does that mean you’re not here to tell me to go back to Hell?”

“No.”

“That’s hard to believe, you know.”

“Luci, I really don’t know how much clearer Father is supposed to make this. You’ve got your wings back, despite the enormous insult of you cutting them off in the first place. You’ve obviously got your grace back. You’ve found a family to be a part of. You’ve found a human who accepts you for who and what you are, even though Father created her to be able to resist your charm. And now, He may even have granted her immortality; last I heard, there was no date for her soul’s return to Heaven in her ledger anymore.”

“... Is that true?”

“Yes. Like I said, things are changing.”

The voices became unintelligible at the point, or maybe Chloe really was tired. She didn’t think so, though. She’d just rest her eyes for a bit. No more than five minutes.

 

* * *

 

And finally, Chloe came awake again briefly when the bed dipped.

Blinking her eyes open, she found that dawn had just arrived, casting Lucifer in a soft grey light. She reached out her arms to him, and he came into them readily.

Secure in the knowledge that everything was alright in her world as long as they were together, she fell back asleep while he was still pulling her close to his warm body.

**Author's Note:**

> Lucifer sings "Angel Eyes". Sinatra's version is here: https://youtu.be/o0HoodY9pXg


End file.
